No Way Out (2002)
No Way Out (2001) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which took place on February 17, 2002 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was the fourth event in the No Way Out chronology. Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's card, which featured a supercard, a scheduling of more than one main event. The first saw Chris Jericho defeat Steve Austin in a standard wrestling match to retain the WWF Championship. The other main event was a Tag team match, in which Tazz and Spike Dudley defeated Booker T and Test to retain the World Tag Team Champion. The featured bout on the undercard was a Brass knuckle on Pole match between defending WWF Intercontinental Champion William Regal versus Edge, which Regal retains the title. This event is notable for the onscreen debut of New World Order and notable returns are Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. Storylines The biggest storyline for No Way Out was when Vince McMahon revealed that he would unleash the New World Order (nWo) upon the World Wrestling Federation in an attempt to "kill (his) creation". Ever since he had become (kayfabe) equal ownership partners with Ric Flair in November 2001 (after Survivor Series), he had gone to great lengths to try to undermine Flair, which led to the angle. McMahon promised that he would not bring the nWo in if Flair agreed to sell his fifty percent stake in the WWF back to McMahon. Flair refused to sell, leading McMahon to reveal several vignettes over the next several weeks with Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash, the three original members of the nWo in World Championship Wrestling, appearing as McMahon's hired guns. After defeating Kurt Angle on the January 28, 2002 episode of WWF Raw, Stone Cold Steve Austin earned a match at No Way Out for the Undisputed WWF Championship against champion Chris Jericho, to whom he had lost in the finals of the tournament to crown the first undisputed champion at Vengeance the previous December. Jericho had just retained the title against The Rock at the 2002 Royal Rumble. Afterward, he successfully defended the title again against Maven on the same night where Austin earned a title shot. Jericho and Austin spent the weeks before No Way Out getting back at each other, including a segment where Jericho knocked out Austin and poured beer all over him. On the February 14 episode of WWF SmackDown!, after Jericho got himself disqualified in his non-title match against Kane, Austin retaliated by assaulting Jericho then finished off Jericho with the Stone Cold Stunner then poured beer all over him. After winning the 2002 Royal Rumble match, Triple H was guaranteed a shot at the Undisputed WWF Championship at WrestleMania X8. Kurt Angle, who Triple H last eliminated, felt that he should have won the Royal Rumble instead so he challenged Triple H to a match at No Way Out with his WrestleMania title shot on the line. Triple H accepted, but was also having trouble with Stephanie McMahon, his on-screen wife, outside the ring. It was due to the face Triple H growing tired of Stephanie's heel characteristics that had led to some hostility between the two. On the February 4, 2002 episode of Raw, Stephanie demanded that they renew their wedding vows on the following week because she was pregnant with their child. On the February 11, 2002 episode of Raw, just before the wedding, Triple H was met with a phone call by his mother-in-law Linda McMahon, who had sent him a video tape revealing that it was a trick, and the doctor that Stephanie had brought in to verify her pregnancy was fake. On the night of the ceremony, Triple H exposed the truth, and declared an end to their on-screen marriage. Three days later, on the February 14, 2002 episode of WWF SmackDown!, after Triple H and WWF Hardcore Champion Maven defeated Angle and The Undertaker by disqualification, Angle and Taker manhandled Triple H while Stephanie announced herself as the guest referee in the match between Triple H and Kurt Angle at No Way Out. On the January 24, 2002 episode of SmackDown!, The Rock mocked The Undertaker for his quick elimination by Maven during the Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble. The Undertaker's interference led to The Rock losing to Kurt Angle in the Semi-finals tournament to challenge for the Undisputed championship at No Way Out. On the February 4, 2002 episode of Raw, during a tag team match, The Undertaker grabbed a steel lead pipe from his motorcycle and nailed The Rock in the head with it, allowing Chris Jericho to score the pinfall win. Three days later on SmackDown!, The Rock retaliated by hitting him with a chair and helping Maven win the WWF Hardcore Championship; however The Undertaker performed a Tombstone Piledriver on The Rock onto the hood of a limousine in revenge. A match was made between the two at No Way Out. Aftermath After his win over Steve Austin, Chris Jericho aligned with Stephanie McMahon (with whom he had been feuding over the past few years), in an attempt to take down Triple H, who had won back his title shot on the episode of Raw immediately following No Way Out. Jericho lost the WWF Undisputed Championship to Triple H at WrestleMania X8, and also failed to win a rematch on the March 25 episode of Raw, in the process forcing Stephanie to, in storyline, leave the WWF per the pre-match stipulation. The feud with Triple H continued, and Jericho would get revenge a month later when he interfered in Triple H's championship defense against Hollywood Hulk Hogan at Backlash 2002 and cost him the title. The two would feud in the following weeks until Judgment Day 2002, when Triple H defeated Chris Jericho in a Hell in a Cell match. The nWo set their sights on Steve Austin and The Rock. Austin wrestled and defeated Scott Hall at WrestleMania X8, while The Rock wrestled and defeated Hogan at the same event. Afterwards, Austin would continue to pursue the Undisputed title, and The Rock left for three months to make another film. Hogan was kicked out of the nWo after WrestleMania and, as mentioned above, later challenged Triple H for the WWF Undisputed Championship at Backlash and won it, tying him with Austin and The Rock for the record for most WWF Championship wins (which at that time was six and has since been broken twice; John Cena currently holds the record with 13). Scott Hall defeated Bradshaw at Backlash, but was released less than a month later. Kevin Nash injured his biceps shortly after his debut and was relegated to a non-wrestling role within the nWo until July, when he suffered a torn quadriceps tendon in his first match back and missed the remainder of the year. After losing to The Rock, The Undertaker would feud with Ric Flair, which ended with Undertaker picking up the win at WrestleMania X8. Spike Dudley and Tazz would lose the WWF Tag Team Championship to Billy and Chuck shortly after No Way Out. Billy and Chuck would soon go on to successfully defend them at WrestleMania X8 against The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz, and The APA in the four teams elimination match. William Regal would go on to defend the WWF Intercontinental Championship against Rob Van Dam at WrestleMania X8, where Van Dam would get the first of six career reigns as Intercontinental Champion. After losing to Regal at No Way Out, Edge would enter a very short feud with Booker T, which included Edge's first singles win at a WrestleMania event. After losing to Van Dam at No Way Out, Goldust entered the Hardcore division, where he would win the WWF Hardcore Championship nine times. Results Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * No Way Out Category:No Way Out Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2002 Pay-Per-View Events